Chapter Summaries

After waking in the Badlands of 2077, Su Xiao learned that Sam McCoy had rescued him from the Random Blade Society and brought him to the Buckle Family camp. He realized he had transmigrated into Cyberpunk 2077 and, still an outsider, wandered into the camp’s logistics area.

• Su Xiao woke in a tent after being shot and overheard an argument about whether the Buckle Family should shelter him.
• Sam McCoy introduced himself and explained that the camp ripperdoc had removed a bullet from Su Xiao’s head; he also noted that Su Xiao had no implants or Neural Slots.
• Su Xiao spent several days learning about the Buckle Family and recognized Night City as part of Cyberpunk 2077’s world.
• Su Xiao recalled his long wait to play Cyberpunk 2077 and how he had been transmigrated before getting to the paid DLC.
• Su Xiao entered the logistics area, where the camp mechanic mocked him as the “Young Master,” but Su Xiao ignored the insult and surveyed the junk-filled workspace.

Su Xiao discovered that his system could identify and help repair firearms, impressing the Buckle Family’s repairman and earning thanks from the Nomads. McCoy then arrived with bad news: Charui had ordered Su Xiao driven out of the camp after taking the money from his credit chip.

• A system appeared in Su Xiao’s mind and granted him Firearm Maintenance LV3, allowing him to inspect the damaged guns.
• Su Xiao borrowed the repairman’s tools and spent an hour fixing a Nomad’s DR5 Nova, leaving the repairman stunned.
• The Nomad thanked Su Xiao for repairing the revolver, while the repairman worried about losing his place as the Buckle Family’s only repairman.
• McCoy arrived looking troubled, and Su Xiao asked him what had happened.
• McCoy explained that Charui had taken the several thousand euros from Su Xiao’s credit chip and now wanted McCoy to drive Su Xiao out of the camp.

Su Xiao proved his firearm-repair skills and was allowed to stay with the Buckle Family, where he later learned combat and survival skills from McCoy. After nearly half a year, Su Xiao considered leaving because he needed combat to gain Potential Points and believed the Buckle Family was declining under Charui.

• Su Xiao demonstrated his repair skills to Charui and the Buckle Family’s influential members, who agreed to let him stay.
• Su Xiao repaired firearms for the camp without pay, while the Buckle Family required members to contribute to its communal supplies.
• McCoy took Su Xiao into the wilderness and trained him in Blade Mastery, Strong, Dodge, and Block.
• Su Xiao trained with McCoy for nearly six months, raising several skills and learning Marksmanship Mastery, Vehicle Driving, and Throwing.
• Su Xiao realized he could not gain Potential Points without combat and began planning to leave the Buckle Family, which he believed was headed for decline under Charui.

Charui planned to rob a Serpent Nation convoy to save the Buckle Family, while McCoy warned Su Xiao to stay in camp and prepare to flee if trouble came. Charui led most of the family’s vehicles away, and the chapter ended the next day with Su Xiao uneasy as he watched the camp.

• McCoy argued with Charui and the other Buckle Family veterans against robbing a Serpent Nation convoy, but Charui insisted the family needed to act to survive.
• McCoy warned Su Xiao not to leave camp and told him about a tunnel, a hidden car, and supplies he could use to escape if something happened.
• Su Xiao prepared himself by checking his traded supplies, including grenades, mines, a Katana, and a Decrypter.
• Charui led eight of the Buckle Family’s eleven vehicles out of camp, while Su Xiao learned from a Nomad that they were likely going to handle a big deal.
• The next day, Su Xiao collected food and watched the distant Badlands from the camp as the remaining Nomads gathered around a bonfire.

A sniper-led assault struck the Nomad camp, and Su Xiao fought his way toward the Chieftain's Longhouse to escape through its hidden tunnel. He reached the longhouse under sniper fire, but the chapter ended before he could get inside.

• A returning vehicle crashed into the camp barricade and exploded, while a sniper and attackers opened fire from several directions.
• Su Xiao retrieved his Katana and grenades, then headed for the Chieftain's Longhouse and its hidden exit tunnel.
• Su Xiao killed two advancing enemies with a grenade and his Katana, earning 0.2 Potential Points.
• Su Xiao ambushed another enemy, cut his leg, and killed him with a grenade before the sniper targeted him.
• Su Xiao used several Smoke Grenades to cross toward the Chieftain's Longhouse, then dodged a sniper's shot as he reached it.

Su Xiao escaped the camp through a hidden tunnel, killed the enemy sniper, and hacked the sniper’s sentry turret. He then used the Ice Storm sniper rifle to support the Nomads and prepared the turret to attack the enemies flanking him.

• Su Xiao found a locked hatch beneath Charui’s desk, cut through the lock, and escaped the camp through the tunnel.
• Su Xiao rushed the enemy sniper, disarmed and killed him, then used the sniper’s body to evade the sentry turret before plugging in a decrypter.
• Su Xiao hacked the sentry turret and took the SPT32 Ice Storm sniper rifle from the dead sniper.
• Su Xiao fired on enemies inside the camp, forcing them to seek cover and split into two groups to flank him.
• Su Xiao completed the turret reconfiguration and opened fire on the enemies approaching from the left.

Su Xiao defended the camp from a Serpent Nation ambush, then learned McCoy had joined the Serpent Nation after Charui's failed attack destroyed the Buckle Family. The survivors were ordered to join the Serpent Nation or leave the camp, and McCoy declared that the Buckle Family no longer existed.

• Su Xiao and the Sentry Turret wiped out thirty Serpent Nation attackers, earning him 3 Potential Points and improving three skills.
• Su Xiao discovered the attackers' emblems and realized Charui and the others had likely run into trouble; only four camp guards survived the ambush.
• McCoy returned under a white flag and told the camp that Charui's ambush on a Serpent Nation convoy had ended in a massacre.
• McCoy revealed that he and some captured Buckle Family members had joined the Serpent Nation, while Charui had fled.
• McCoy offered the survivors the choice of joining the Serpent Nation or leaving the camp, and said the Buckle Family was finished.

Su Xiao left the Buckle Family camp with McCoy’s supplies and heirloom katana, then reached a town near Night City while transporting cargo. There, Sheriff Andrew Jones pressured him into investigating a cyberpsycho in exchange for a thousand euros.

• Su Xiao chose to leave the Nomads for Night City, and McCoy gave him a hidden SUV, supplies, and the Buckle family heirloom Muramasa.
• Su Xiao drove toward Night City, taking a job to transport something into the city.
• In a town outside Night City, a resident brought Su Xiao to Sheriff Andrew Jones instead of the expected client.
• Andrew Jones demanded that Su Xiao help deal with a cyberpsycho blamed for several deaths outside town, offering him a thousand euros.

Su Xiao agreed to hunt a cyberpsycho outside the border town for two thousand euros, then was ambushed by a heavily augmented man before he could reach the shack. The cyberpsycho dodged Su Xiao’s gunfire, and the chapter ended as they clashed blades.

• Su Xiao negotiated a two-thousand-euro fee with the sheriff to deal with the cyberpsycho.
• A townsperson guided Su Xiao to a remote shack but stayed in his car while Su Xiao surveyed the area.
• Su Xiao took the car key, planted anti-personnel mines by the shack’s only exit, and was suddenly attacked from behind.
• Su Xiao blocked the attacker’s Mantis Blades with Muramasa and saw that the cyberpsycho was a heavily augmented man.
• Su Xiao emptied his revolver at the cyberpsycho, but the man dodged every shot and charged him.
• Su Xiao dropped his empty revolver and met the cyberpsycho’s attack with his katana.

Su Xiao killed the Cyberpsychosis in a brutal close-quarters fight and discovered the man had been an Arasaka assassin named Zank the Decapitator. After learning the truth from a laptop, Su Xiao left with his payment secured and gained two Potential Points.

• Su Xiao shot the Cyberpsychosis at close range, jammed a Mantis Blade with his handgun, and used Muramasa’s sheath launcher to cut the man in two.
• Su Xiao checked his status and received two Potential Points for killing the Cyberpsychosis.
• Su Xiao returned to his car, asked the town resident who had witnessed the fight to testify, and searched the shack for anything valuable.
• Su Xiao found a laptop and learned that the dead man was Troy, codenamed Zank the Decapitator, an Arasaka assassin who had defected after becoming obsessed with killing.

Su Xiao tracked down Jack Wells after learning that the sheriff had cheated him out of his payment and forced him out of town. He reached the supposed farm and entered its shack, where someone was waiting inside.

• Su Xiao contacted McCoy from a communications tower, and McCoy found Jack Wells waiting at a Badlands farm.
• Su Xiao confronted the sheriff over his unpaid fee, but the sheriff claimed the communications tower fee canceled the debt and threatened to shoot him.
• Su Xiao threw Muramasa at the sheriff, sending him through the office window and into a trash can.
• Su Xiao drove to the farm McCoy had identified and entered its shack, finding cockroaches crawling across the floor.

Su Xiao and Jack Wells attempted to smuggle an unknown crate into Night City, each discovering that the other was inexperienced. At the customs checkpoint, they presented a declaration marked L.O.A., and Su Xiao recognized it as “lost on arrival.”

• Su Xiao met Jack Wells, introduced himself, and learned that Jack lived in Heywood and worked for the Valentino Gang.
• Jack showed Su Xiao a sealed, unusually heavy crate, and they loaded it into Su Xiao’s SUV without opening it.
• As they drove toward Night City, Su Xiao and Jack realized neither had experience with the smuggling route, and Su Xiao agreed to handle negotiations at the border.
• Su Xiao followed the guards’ instructions and drove into the inspection area while Jack nervously watched the Sentry Turrets.
• Jack handed Su Xiao a black customs declaration marked L.O.A., which Su Xiao recognized as “lost on arrival.”

Su Xiao bribed a border guard to clear the cargo, then claimed he worked for the powerful Serpent Nation when the guard questioned him. He and Jack left the checkpoint, but Jack worried that the lie could cause trouble.

• Su Xiao hid a credit chip in the customs declaration and gave it to the border guard, who cleared the cargo.
• The border guard asked which Nomad family Su Xiao worked for, and Su Xiao claimed he represented the Serpent Nation.
• Su Xiao showed the guard a Serpent Nation emblem and persuaded him to let them go; the guard chose not to report them to Militech.
• Su Xiao retrieved his weapons and met Jack, who asked what had happened.
• Su Xiao told Jack about his claim, admitted he was not with the Serpent Nation, and told Jack to keep driving while he checked his weapons.

Su Xiao and Jack reached Night City after a peaceful delivery route, though they witnessed a violent gang shootout on the way. Jack brought Su Xiao to his home in Heywood, where Mrs. Wells fed them, and they settled in for the night.

• Su Xiao and Jack entered Night City through Santo Domingo, avoiding Pacifica because of its constant violence.
• An Animal Gang convoy attacked a Godtler Sedan on the overpass, but the sedan’s occupants destroyed the pursuing SUVs and drove away.
• Jack took Su Xiao to The Glen in Heywood and brought him to the Wolf Bar, where Mrs. Wells greeted them and offered food.
• Su Xiao and Jack ate burritos and drinks before returning to Jack’s garage, where Jack gave Su Xiao the sofa and slept on the floor.

Su Xiao woke in Jack’s garage and met Jack at the Wolf Bar, where Mrs. Wells stopped him from drinking. After Jack and Su Xiao returned to the garage, Jack handed Su Xiao a thick wad of cash.

• Su Xiao woke alone in the garage, went to the Wolf Bar, and learned from Peppy that Jack had left early that morning.
• Su Xiao read about the world of 2077 on his laptop until Jack arrived and tried to persuade Peppy to serve him alcohol.
• Mrs. Wells appeared and summoned Jack, who returned half an hour later and declared he would stop drinking at the Wolf Bar.
• Su Xiao reflected on the dangers and inequalities of life in Night City as he and Jack left the bar and returned to the garage.
• Jack pulled down the garage door and handed Su Xiao a thick wad of cash.

Su Xiao and Jack became partners in Night City, while Mann and his crew killed a former company colleague who had hired the Animal Gang against him. Jack then received a major job involving a rare Rayfield supercar, though he had yet to explain how they would get it.

• Jack paid Su Xiao more than the agreed freight fee and proposed that they work together, offering to help him find work and meet the ripperdoc Old Wei.
• Mann and his crew confronted a middle-aged company employee who had hired the Animal Gang to kill him, and Mann shot the man dead after their argument.
• Dorio and Mann joked about corporate life, while Rebecca invited Sasha out for a drink and Sasha agreed.
• After a call at the Wolf Bar, Jack told Su Xiao that they had landed a major job and borrowed his laptop to show him a Rayfield AERONDIGHT S9 GUINEVERE.
• Jack explained that an intermediary wanted him to obtain the rare supercar and offered a large payment, but he had not yet revealed the plan.

Su Xiao and Jack went to the Ember Nightclub to steal a luxury car for Okada Wakako, but found the security office unmanned. Jack swore as their plan hit an unexpected snag.

• Su Xiao agreed to help Jack steal a car after watching a Japanese man advocate paying for poor people's scalps.
• Jack explained how fixers worked as they rode to the Ember Nightclub, and Su Xiao bought Flashbang Grenades and Smoke Grenades because he had a bad feeling.
• Jack led Su Xiao into the nightclub's underground garage, where they crept toward the security office through camera blind spots.
• Su Xiao and Jack reached the security office and discovered that the guard was missing.

Su Xiao and Jack Wells pursued a Rayfield supercar, but Jack tried to take it from a girl who had reached it first. NCPD officers arrested them, and Inspector Stints taunted the girl as they faced the usual brief, overcrowded lockup.

• Su Xiao recognized the supercar as the target of another fixer job, but a sense of danger stopped him from following Jack Wells.
• Jack pointed his gun at the girl in the Rayfield and demanded that she give up the car.
• Two NCPD cars arrived, and officers disarmed and arrested Jack and the girl.
• Inspector Stints recognized Jack and taunted the girl about her return from Atlanta and her Heywood roots.
• Jack argued that overcrowded cells meant they would likely be released early, while the chapter described Night City's chronic inequality and overloaded police force.

Su Xiao and Jack rescued V from corrupt NCPD officers after Fujioka Kaoru ordered the officers to kill them. The three escaped and learned V had taken Kirk’s car-theft job to repay Peppy’s debt; they returned to the Wolf Bar to confront Kirk.

• Fujioka Kaoru told Stints to throw Jack and V into the sea, but Su Xiao’s grenades created a chance for them to escape.
• Su Xiao helped V flee with Jack, and the three evaded the NCPD by climbing out through the alley and catching a taxi.
• V introduced herself and explained that she had taken Kirk’s job because Peppy owed him money.
• Jack said Kirk had no gang backing him and urged V and Su Xiao to confront him.
• The three returned to the Wolf Bar, cleaned up, and went to see Peppy.

V and Jack tried to settle Peppy's debt with Kirk, but he refused to waive the interest and instead demanded that they work for him when called. They left without agreeing, and V told Su Xiao what had happened at the bar.

• V and Jack confronted Kirk about Peppy's debt, and Jack offered to pay the principal if Kirk waived the interest.
• Kirk admitted he had lied to Peppy about having gang backing and refused to settle for the principal alone.
• Kirk offered to wipe Peppy's debt if V and Jack did a job for him whenever he called, but Jack and V left without accepting.
• Su Xiao poured drinks for V and Jack, then asked what had happened.
• V told Su Xiao about Kirk's demand, and Su Xiao asked whether they had agreed to work for him.